Chapter 2: Charm Offensive

Jack awoke after what he felt like was a short time later, laying in a new bed. Unlike Alliance beds which were hard and stiff to lower the financial cost of bedding thousands of people per ship, this bed was soft allowing him to sink in. Cerberus certainly seemed to have endless amounts of credits for all of the things they did he was aware of, where did they get it all? Jack looked around the room trying to see a time or date somewhere on the walls to get his barrings but, the walls were utterly bare. While he was still unsure how long he had been trapped in the cryo pod, he was comforted with the fact that Miranda didn't look that much older. It meant that most likely Kal and the rest of the Normandy's crew were alive somewhere, he just had to find them.

With that in mind, Jack started to get out of the bed only to realize he wasn't wearing any clothes. Where had they taken his armor and why did they take it? From their brief conversation, Miranda had implied Cerberus didn't see him as a threat but, as a potential ally. Had that assessment changed or were they just more comfortable if he couldn't defend himself? Either way, Jack felt exposed, needing to be more careful. On the floor at the foot of his bed was a fresh set of Cerberus casual clothes and a note. He didn't bother reading it feeling an urgency to get moving for Kal's sake. He couldn't imagine how Kal was thinking he had died to save him. Once the clothes were on, Jack opened the door, looking for Miranda.

Jack realized he was on yet another space station from the windows in the hallway he was walking through looking out into space. How many space stations did Cerberus have just laying around? It wasn't like construction for these types of facilities was cheap or fast. Part of the reason the Citadel and Arcturus Station were so special was because they were pretty much the only ones of their kind. Cerberus must've been around since shortly after the First Contact War gathering resources for these stations. That was the only explanation Jack could come up with that made even a little sense. He wondered if the Alliance was truly aware how powerful this group seemed to be.

A second door opened revealing a nearly empty mess hall. If he wanted to Jack could probably try and run and maybe even make it to a shuttle. The problem was he still knew nothing about what was going on so running right now seemed pointless. Jack needed to stay a little longer to figure out what happened and why Cerberus had saved him from themselves. Why was it important for Miranda to find and rescue him when another Cerberus operative already had him? Couldn't they have just talked to each other and exchanged him without a gunfight? While he didn't see Miranda anywhere in sight, Jacob was sitting alone at a table with an extra tray of breakfast food seemingly waiting for him.

Jacob stood with a hand out stretched, "Commander, I think it's time we were more officially introduced. My names actually Jacob Taylor, I'm looking forward to working with you."

Jack resisted the urge to punch him and instead gave a cold laugh, "Is this really how Cerberus is planning to recruit me? Have a nice song and dance pretending nothing ever happened between us?"

Jacob lowered his arm taking a more professional posture, "I'm sorry about what happened on Virmire, I...let my personal feelings get in the way of the job. With respect, I hate your guts Shepard but, I'm going to look past that for the galaxies sake. What do you wanna know first?"

Jack sat down taking some of the food feeling hungry, still frustrated with his current situation, "How long have I been out?"

Jacob sat across from him acting as though they had worked together for years, "Just now? Only a few hours so we could remove all the eezo out of you-"

Jack spat some of the water he had been drinking back out, "Wait you did what to me? Your saying my eezo is just gone?"

Jacob had a cautious tone like he was dealing with a dangerous animal, "To be frank Commander, we need you at top fighting condition as soon as possible. Rather than waste time getting you adjusted to a new L3 implant, we just decided to remove the eezo entirely. The good news is you won't experience any crippling side effects, no more headaches or nausea. The bad news is you've lost your biotic abilities."

That was going to take some getting used to. Jack had used biotics since he was a small boy and trained years to incorporate them into combat. Biotics had saved his life on many occasions and Jack had grown dependent on them. He was grateful that the side effects were gone but, he wondered why they had so much urgency? Had the Reapers found another way to return and Cerberus needed his help to stop them? It was the only possibility that made sense, Jack just didn't know how he could help. He only led the charge to stop Sovereign because he had seen the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. Surely the Council would've realized he was right after analyzing Sovereign's debris.

Jack took a deep breath trying to take that in, "Ok, how long was I out before then?"

Jacob nibbled on some bacon looking uncomfortable, "Two years, give or take a few days. From what we can tell, some sort of Reaper ship attacked the Normandy and a rogue Cerberus cell retrieved you alive. However, the Alliance officially declared you killed in action. The whole galaxy thinks you're dead. The rogue cell kept you in that pod for personal reasons.."

Jack felt like he was going to have a heart attack, two long years. That was two years Kal would've had to live with himself thinking he was dead, and that was the best case scenario. At worst, no other ship responded to the distress call and the Normandy's crew died on some isolated planet in the middle of nowhere. Then, Jacob tells him he was frozen that long because of a personal reason? It made him angry and upset, furious even, but he couldn't show it. If Cerberus knew Jack still cared about Kal they could use it against them. He could just say they broke up shortly after the Citadel if anyone asked.

He raised an eyebrow, "Personal reasons? Your going to have to do better than that Jacob. I deserve to know why I was frozen alive for two years! Do you know if my crew survived the attack?"

Jacob fiddled with his fork, "I don't deal in office gossip but, you pissed the wrong person off and they took out some revenge. They wanted you to feel what they felt like. I shouldn't say more without The Illusive Man's permission... As for the crew, a couple more support people died but Ashley, Garrus, and yes Kal made it out alive. Kal was...doing... ok last we met."

Jack had a hundred more questions when Miranda entered the room, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting Shepard. I can lead you to a ship momentarily when you want to leave but, my boss would like to have a word."

He stood up looking at her, "You mean The Illusive Man? I look forward to meeting the man that was so inept as to kidnap me and lose me on the same day."

She gave Jacob a cold but knowing look, "Ah Jacob, I knew you would say too much, we'll talk about this later." Miranda started walking the way she had come, "The Illusive Man is waiting Shepard, I'm sure he can answer more of your questions than Jacob."

Jack followed her getting more and more irritated, "I'd like some answers now if you don't mind. How the hell does Cerberus operate if a 'rogue cell' can kidnap me without the rest of you knowing exactly where I was?"

Miranda gave what seemed like a prepared answer, "Cerberus is organized into task-oriented cells. Each operates in isolation, members from one cell cannot recognize the members of another. Each cell's agents are led by a single cell and there are never more than a dozen cells at a time. The Illusive Man likes to maintain personal oversight. Too many projects strain his ability to multi-task."

Jack chuckled at the last part, "That's obviously a given, maybe you all should go down to single digits to make it more manageable for him."

Miranda smirked looking pleased with herself, "You were captured because The Illusive Man had a soft spot for a particular project lead, something I was able to correct. Currently, Cerberus consists of approximately 150 agents and operators organized into three cells."

Jack took a defensive tone, "So, I'm supposed to think your one of the good ones? You already blew that chance when you killed Jenkins."

She sighed, "If it makes you feel any better, before Eden Prime I pushed Cerberus to encourage the Alliance to co-develop the Normandy. This allowed humans to observe turian technologies and warship design practices. Otherwise, I think your other concerns should be addressed with The Illusive Man himself." Miranda gestured towards a door infront of them, motioning for him to go inside, "I'll be waiting for you when your done."

Jack entered expecting to see a small conference room and this Illusive Man but instead, the room was empty. He looked at Miranda confused until she pointed to a comm's device situated on the floor in the middle of the room. He remembered hearing about these being in development before the Normandy was destroyed. The creators claimed that once you stepped onto the circular, black, portable pad, a digital representation of yourself could be teleported anywhere in the galaxy. Jack had doubted the visual presentation wasn't as life like as the developers had so boldly claimed back then, guess it was time to test that theory.

Once he stepped on the device, a network of orange lights rose up around the circular edges, scanning him. After that the lights faded and the walls changed with holographic images of a new location. The trick worked for the most part, he felt like he had changed locations if he didn't look to hard. He was standing in the middle of another space station if the giant star out the window was real. The red, orange, and blue solar flares zipping around the sun were beautiful to look at if the other man wasn't in the room. The Illusive Man, was probably as old as his mother would've been if she was still around, he was seemingly trying to hide his age by dying parts of his hair brown. Jack could tell he was older than he was trying to appear from his eyes, they weren't natural with blue code scrolling across the pupils. He was sitting in a chair wearing a very expensive looking gray business suit and was holding a lit cigarette between two of his boney fingers.

Jack folded his arms, "You must be The Illusive Man, a word of advice? Next time you want to speak with someone you probably shouldn't send people that have tried to kill me to come get me."

He put the cigarette to his lips illuminating a smile on the face that was otherwise in shadow, "Commander Shepard, you remind me of your mother. Good to see your memory's still intact. How are you feeling?"

Jack laughed feeling very amused by that, "Your not exactly my best friend so why should I tell you? It's not like Cerberus has been friendly to me."

The Illusive Man grabbed a glass of what looked like scotch from an arm on his chair, "Cerberus isn't as evil as you seem to believe. If I can help get rid of any of your concerns, I'd be happy to do so."

Jack shook his head, "You've kidnapped me twice in the past two years, I don't think anything you say can take that back. And that's even before I bring up Luna or Noveria, all you want is chaos."

He had a scolding tone now, "You know very little about me, Shepard. Don't presume to understand my intentions from your narrow gaze."

Jack countered still not convinced, "Then explain the kidnapping, Miranda and Jacob have been very cagey on the subject."

He took another sip of the drink, "It's a sensitive matter that's been taken care of. Cerberus is ultimately about Humanity and sometimes that Human aspect can cloud my judgement. My people are valuable to me but, rest assured, the rogue element has been taken care of. Miranda has inherited her projects."

Realizing he wasn't going to get anything else, Jack nodded reluctantly, "Alright then, why am I here talking to you now? What's going on?"

The Illusive Man leaned forward in his chair, "We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but Humanity is under attack. While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers, like Saren and the Geth... No one's paying attention because it's random and the attacks occur in remote locations."

Jack raised an eyebrow feeling somewhat skeptical, "And a Human terrorist organization is suddenly interested in the Reapers because...?"

He put out the cigarette after taking another puff, "The Salarians have the Special Tasks Group. The Asari have their legendary commandos for stealth and recon operations. Cerberus is Humanity's answer to those organizations. For the defense and preservation of Humanity, but we're going up against the greatest threat of our brief existence. That our place in the universe is more fragile than we'd like to think because of the Reapers. Ever since you sounded the alarm, we were interested. Why wouldn't we be?"

Jack paused still feeling a little uneasy, "I'm still not sure why you needed me? I only saw the beacon on Eden Prime, I'm not special."

He stood up walking towards what had to be the camera, "I wanted you because I believe that one man, one very specific man, might be all that stands between us and the extinction of our species. You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you. You also stood for Humanity at a key moment, despite your relationships... You're more than a soldier, your a symbol. And I don't know if the Reapers understand fear, but you helped kill one, they have to respect that."

Jack started to pace around the circle, "You could contact the Alliance with whatever evidence you have. It might even give Cerberus a better PR image. So, you must have a reason to hide this."

He shook his head, "The Alliance is too overwhelmed by the responsibility you gave them. They're too busy building relations to put resources into verifying the Reaper threat. Blaming the abductions on mercs and pirates is easier, and more convenient."

Jack bit his lower lip, that definitely sounded like Udina, especially if he was promoted to be part of the Council, "How do we know that the Reapers are behind these abductions? They want to kill and harvest all life, not just take people one by one."

He looked a little smug into the camera now, "Hundreds of thousands of colonists have vanished. I'd say that fits the definition of 'harvesting.'"

Jack frowned, "It still doesn't make any sense, the Reapers want to kill everything, not just us."

He shrugged obviously not having all the answers, "I don't know why they've suddenly targeted Humanity. Maybe you got their attention when you helped kill one of them."

While he really didn't like any of this, Jack needed to know for himself what was going on. This was a serious moment no matter the root cause of the disappearances. The best case scenario was that Aria wanted another, larger Skillyian Blitz, and was taking as many Humans as possible to do it. The scarier option was that Cerberus was right and the Reapers were taking a stealthy approach after the battle for the Citadel. He wanted to contact Kal so badly and tell him he was alright but, he needed to be done with this business first. If The Illusive Man was right, Jack was going to have to warn as many people as possible about the threat.

Jack put on a determined expression, "I'm sure you didn't bring me here just to talk about theory, what do you want me to do?"

The Illusive Man returned to his seat, "I'm glad you asked. I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies? Do they have any connection to the Reapers?"

Jack was still hesitant about this, "If I say no I'm guessing you'd just order someone to take me there anyways?"

He actually chuckled from that, "You always have a choice, Shepard. If you don't find the evidence we're both looking for, we can part ways. I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing for yourself. Miranda and Jacob will take you there."

Jack tensed slightly, "No offense but, I haven't had the best track record with any of your people. I'd rather go alone."

He finished off his scotch with a content sigh, "Wilson was one of my best agents but I will admit he was a traitor. Miranda did exactly what I expected of her, and she saved your life. Jacob's a soldier, one of the best. He's never fully trusted me, or you for that matter, but at least he's always been honest about it. You'll be just fine with them... for now."

Jack gritted his teeth, "Alright then, I'll see you if I get something." The room suddenly returned to normal and he wasn't surprised to see Miranda standing at the door, "What do you know about the colony we're going to?"

She gave an almost innocent looking smile, "Freedom's Progress? It's a typical human settlement in the Terminus Systems. They had a small military force for protection supplemented by mechs and security drones. Average in almost every way, really. Completely unremarkable... until the disappearance."

Jack let that sink in, so much for Aria, she was all about theatrics, "What do you think we'll find there?"

She shrugged starting to walk the way they came, "Honestly? More of the same, a lot of empty buildings and one giant mystery."

Jack looked closely at her, "Can I trust I won't be another Wilson when we get there?"

Miranda scoffed at the question, "I know who I report to, as long as you don't do anything to betray Cerberus, I'll follow your orders. I believe in what Cerberus stands for. Only time will tell if you prove to be an asset or a liability to our cause." She led him to an armory room, "The rest of us are ready to leave, Shepard. We're just waiting for you to get ready and on to the shuttle."

He moved quickly to get a new set of armor on. The quicker they could get through this, the quicker he could get back to Kal.